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“Rise” - Sermon for the 88th Anniversary of The United Church of Canada
Posted on: 06/06/2013 16:31
“Rise” - Sermon for the 88th Anniversary of The United Church of Canada’s Inaugural Service, Luke 7:11-17. By Rev. Bronwyn Corlett (preached at General Council Office Chapel, Wednesday, June 5, 2013).
And Jesus said, Rise! And the young man sat up and began to speak!
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Moderator Gary Paterson: Remembrance Day
Posted on: 11/08/2012 12:23
Moderator Gary Paterson has a launched a new blog at www.garypaterson.ca. Take a look at his latest post!
Remembrance Day
Both my grandfathers fought in World War I; one was wounded at Vimy Ridge. Some 25 years later, my father lied about his age and joined the army at age 17, eager to go to war—but the fighting ended before his training was complete, so he never saw battle. (He’s 85 now—our WWII vets are old!)
There have been hundreds of wars since 1945. We think of them as “small” wars—internal civil wars, or between two nations, or in a localized area. But OMG, so many of them. Spin the globe sometime and try listing the countries that have experienced war in the last 65 years—in a few minutes I can name over 50! ...
Read the full post here: http://www.garypaterson.ca/2012/11/08/remembrance-day/
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Observations on Church Marketing
Posted on: 10/01/2012 10:55
Some good observations on church marketing efforts from "Church Marketing Sucks."
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Embattled Ecumenism
Posted on: 07/17/2012 12:25
From The Christian Century:
Embattled Ecumenism, by Jill K. Gill
Reviewed by Randall Balmer
In her remarkable account of the declining influence of mainline Protestantism and, especially, the National Council of Churches during the 1960s and 1970s, historian Jill Gill refuses to advance a singular cause, but no argument is more persuasive than a couple of lines she drops quietly on page 322: “One might assume that church leaders would have adopted a moral approach from the beginning,” she writes. “But they did not.” That strategic failure may have been responsible more than anything else for the rupture between the leaders of mainline Protestantism and the people in the pews.
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Living with the Psalms
Posted on: 07/17/2012 12:18
Living with the Psalms, by Karen Hamilton
(Novalis, 2012)
Reviewed by Nora Sanders
In the midst of her busy responsibilities as General Secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches, the Rev. Dr. Karen Hamilton has found the time to write this beautiful little book about the Psalms. The title is well chosen, because the reader is invited to experience the Psalms, not in an academic sense, but as companions to daily life.
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The United Church Observer Leads ACP Award-Winners
Posted on: 05/04/2012 16:36
Congratulations to our friends at The United Church Observer! The independent United Church magazine won more awards than any other publication in the recent Associated Church Press awards in Chicago! This is a pretty awesome accomplishment! http://www.ucobserver.org/
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THE UNITED CHURCH OBSERVER
LEADS ACP AWARD-WINNERS
The United Church Observer, The United Church of Canada’s independent national magazine, has won more awards than any other American or Canadian magazine in the 2011 editorial excellence competition run by the U.S.-based Associated Church Press (ACP).
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Days of Rain - Art Installation by Paul Roorda
Posted on: 05/03/2012 11:17
"Days of Rain" is an art installation by Paul Roorda at the abandoned Lamlash Church near Durham, Ontario.
Rev. Keith Hagerman of Parkminster United Church in Waterloo, Ont. shared the following reflection about the art installation with his congregation:
"It could be said that artists are the theologians in our time, forcing us to look at the world with different eyes, seeing moments of grace or of destruction, turning our preconceived notions on their head."
For more photos from "Days of Rain" and other art works, see Paul Roorda's website:
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Keith Howard: Meetings – Weapons of Mass Interruption
Posted on: 10/13/2011 10:50
Keith Howard, former executive director of Emerging Spirit, writes:
If an apocalyptic meltdown of the national umbrella of the United Church does occur – as some predict – what will be the last things standing? The Pension Fund (I hope); the Standard Salary Schedule; our penchant for meetings?
A friend casually remarked that the roots of the system upon which ours is based actually reach back before the time of the telephone.
Historically meetings have served many purposes – information sharing, an excuse to socialize and organize and, occasionally, to make or (double) check decisions.
Al Pittampalli’s e-book, Read This Before Our Next Meeting probes the role of the much maligned meeting in this postmodern time. (And in this the subtitle perhaps misleads – “the modern meeting standard for successful organizations.”) He seeks to redefine the purpose and style of meetings.
Seven principles define his understanding...
(Read the full blog post here: keithhoward.ca)
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A Theologian Shows how Jack Layton's Spirituality Is Summarized in his "Letter to Canadians"
Posted on: 08/24/2011 10:50
by Christopher Lind, www.christopherlind.ca
In a resolutely secular society like Canada, one of the jobs of a theologian is to point out where the new theological language is emerging. One of those places is in Jack Layton's final letter to Canadians. There he provides a synopsis of his own theology.
"Love is better than anger
Hope is better than fear
Optimism is better than despair"
What most Canadians will find difficult to articulate is where they've heard that language before. Consider the following passages from Christian and Hebrew Scriptures.
"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 4:18)
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